alex bau Zenstory EP (12", £9.25)

Echocord’s Echo Echo sub-label continues with its third releases this August, courtesy of German producer and Credo founder Alex Bau with his ‘Zenstory’ EP.
Germany’s Alex Bau has been a prominent name on the underground DJ circuit on his home turf, and further afield, for three decaces as well as racking up an impressive back catalogue as a recording artists for labels like Cocoon, CLR, Sleaze and of course his very own Credo label which has been a platform predominantly for his own material whilst welcoming the likes of Kyle Geiger, Takkyu Ishino and Electric Rescue onto the imprint also.
Here though we see Bau joining the roster of Echocord’s fledgling sub-label Echo Echo with a new four-track EP and taking the lead on the package is ‘Clouds’ with pulsating low-end tones, hissing analogue noise and dusty drums samples all flowing in unison with ethereal chords and sweeping pads. ‘Contour’ follows, tipping the focus over to bubbling delayed stab hits, fluttering sub bass and evolving white noise bursts throughout. The ‘Prelude’ of ‘Zenstory’ opens the flip side and as the name would suggest it’s a cinematic build up to the title-track featuring tension-building, expansive atmospherics ahead of the original mix which features a thumping muted kick, stuttering atmospheric echoes and spoken word vocal tucked into the depths of the record.
Tracklisting
1 - 1 Clouds 00:05:37
1 - 2 Contour 00:06:56
1 - 3 Zenstory (prelude) 00:05:43
1 - 4 Zenstory 00:08:29